Greater investment in environmental health system should be a prerequisite in order to prevent pandemic, the immediate-past Dean,聽Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS),聽水果派 of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Grace Okoli, has said.
Okoli, who is the study centre director,聽Wuse聽II, stated this while presenting a paper at the 53rd Annual General Meeting/Scientific Conference and Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Corporate Headquarters of Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN), in Abuja.
The conference was held under the chairmanship of Chief (Barr.) Sharon Ikeazor, the Honourable聽Minister of State for Environment.
Speaking on the topic, 鈥淕lobal Pandemic Prevention and Control-Environmental Health:聽An Essential Partner,鈥 the professor of environmental health said investing in essential governmental environmental health services through dedicated resources will create an effective environmental health system that proactively protects communities and helps everyone attain good health.
鈥淔ederal, state, local, and tribal governments should adopt standard approaches to ensuring environmental health equity, protections and access for all, particularly vulnerable and at-risk populations.
鈥淎s a fundamental component of a comprehensive public health system, environmental health works to advance policies and programmes to reduce chemical and other environmental exposures in air, water, soil and food to protect residents and provide communities with healthier environments.
鈥淓nvironmental health protects the public by tracking environmental exposures in communities and potential links with disease outcomes,鈥澛爏he stated.
To achieve a healthy community, Okoli聽stressed聽the need for homes to be safe, affordable, and healthy for families to gather, while saying workplaces, schools, and child-care centres should be free of exposures that negatively impact the health of workers or children.
She further said the federal government can help build an effective and strong environmental health system by creating an integrated infrastructure to collect and track crucial information, developing a well-trained and highly skilled workforce, providing ample and sustainable funding from diverse sources, among other.
The erudite professor also said governmental environmental health services are not a luxury but essential to providing basic needs to the public such as safe drinking water, clean air, lead poisoning prevention, climate change adaptation, and more.